Paul Joseph James Martin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Paul Joseph James Martin, PC, CC, QC (June 23, 1903 – September 14, 1992), often referred to as Paul Martin, Sr, was a noted Canadian politician.

Born in Ottawa, Ontario, to an Irish Catholic father and a French Canadian mother, he was raised in Pembroke, Ontario in the Ottawa Valley, although he did his high school studies at Collège St-Alexandre in Gatineau, Québec. He completed his university education at the University of Toronto. Martin opened a law practice in Windsor, Ontario. A member of the Liberal Party of Canada, he was first elected to the House of Commons in 1935 and entered the cabinet in 1945. He went on to serve as a noted member of the cabinets of four Prime Ministers: William Lyon Mackenzie King, Louis St. Laurent, Lester B. Pearson and Pierre Trudeau.

Martin was viewed as one of the most left-wing members of the Liberal cabinet, and as Minister of National Health and Welfare from 1946 to 1957 he played an important role in the fight against polio and overseeing the creation of hospital insurance in Canada, and is sometimes recognized as a father of medicare. Martin served as Secretary of State for External Affairs in the Pearson government, and was instrumental in the acquisition of U.S. nuclear weapons for Canadian Forces.^[1]

Hon. Paul Martin (left) and Rt. Hon. W.L. Mackenzie King attending the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly, 23 October 1946

He ran for the Liberal leadership three times, in 1948, in 1958 and 1968, but was defeated at all three Liberal leadership conventions, first by Louis St. Laurent, then by Lester B. Pearson, then by Pierre Trudeau. Trudeau appointed him to the Senate in 1968. He served as Leader of the Government in the Senate until 1974 when he was appointed High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. In 1976 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. He also served as Chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier University from 1972-1977, as a result of which the university named the Paul Martin Centre in his honour. The University of Windsor has a Paul Martin Chair in law and political science, recently held by former Manitoba Premier Howard Pawley (until his retirement from the University of Windsor). Until his death Paul Martin was an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Windsor.

Paul Joseph James Martin is the father of Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, who also served as an MP and Cabinet Minister. Paul "Jr." contested the leadership of the Liberal party twice, in 1990 and 2003 and served as Prime Minister of Canada from 2003 - 2006.

In recognition of his accomplishments, Martin was granted the right to use the honorific Right Honourable in 1992, a rare honour for one who has never been Prime Minister, Governor-General or Chief Justice of Canada.

[edit] References

^ Clearwater, J. "Canadian Nuclear Weapons.", Chapter 1. Dundurn Press, 1998.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Preceded by: Raymond Morand, Cons.	Member of Parliament from Essex East 1935–1968	Succeeded by: Riding was abolished in 1966
Preceded by: Brooke Claxton	Minister of National Health and Welfare 12 December 1946 – 20 June 1957	Succeeded by: Alfred Johnson Brooks
Preceded by: Howard Charles Green	Secretary of State for External Affairs 22 April 1963 – 20 April 1968	Succeeded by: Mitchell Sharp
Preceded by: John Joseph Connolly	Minister Without Portfolio (Leader of the Government in the Senate) 20 April 1968 – 1 April 1969	Succeeded by: ---
Preceded by: ---	Leader of the Government in the Senate 1 April 1969 – 7 August 1974	Succeeded by: Raymond Joseph Perrault